HPC Then and Now

HPC: Then FORTRAN and C++ People carried data themselves (Punch cards) Highly optimized code, where each line was pure art People had to be smarter than supercomputers HPC: NOW Unoptimized Python code on 600 nodes Complaining about the limitations of 1TB/s Highly optimized libraries being called incorrectly AI writes the code

A two-panel Wojak-style comparison contrasts high-performance computing in the past with HPC today. The “then” panel shows muscular programmers, carefully optimized code, punch cards, and people smarter than supercomputers, while the “now” panel shows unoptimized Python on hundreds of nodes, complaints about hardware limits, incorrectly used libraries, and AI writing the code. The joke mocks how modern HPC can involve excessive hardware, inefficient software, and reliance on AI despite increasingly powerful systems.

• @ithueti / 10471 2023-09-30